Mobile wireless communication devices, such as a wireless cellular telephone or a wireless enabled computer tablet, can provide a wide variety of communication services including, for example, voice communication, text messaging, internet browsing, and audio/video streaming. Wireless communication networks can use different standardized communication protocols, such as the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). Each of these standardized communication protocols can specify access techniques that permit the simultaneous service of multiple mobile wireless communication devices by a wireless communication network. Communication protocols can also define conformance tests under which mobile wireless communication devices can be tested for performance and compliance. Conformance testing, however, can provide limited information for testing and debugging a particular product design. Users of mobile wireless communication devices expect good performance for both voice and data services under a variety of operating scenarios that can vary widely, for example from dense urban areas to rural expanses to indoor locations. Each operating scenario can present a different combination of effects on radio frequency signals transmitted between the mobile wireless communication device and base transceiver stations (BTS) located in cells of a wireless communication network.
Estimating the performance of the mobile wireless communication device when used in different operating scenarios can require extensive testing, both in actual field test environments and in simulated laboratory settings. Re-using test data gathered by radio frequency scanners during an actual field test can provide a flexible test platform in a laboratory setting, in particular when the field test data can be modified to represent a variety of operating scenarios. Radio frequency scanners can acquire a multitude of statistics based on signals received from a base transceiver station located in a cell of a wireless communication network. Multiple base transceiver stations can be observed simultaneously and statistical data gathered from each during a mobile wireless communication device field test. Limits on a feasible set of laboratory test equipment through which to process the scanned data can require selecting a subset of the scanned data for further analysis and simulation. Typically a subset of the acquired statistical data can provide an accurate characterization of the field test environment to evaluate performance of a mobile wireless communication device. An appropriate subset of gathered statistical data can depend on the operating scenario under which the data was obtained, and laboratory equipment can play back the scanned data based on a selected operating scenario. The actual operating scenario, however, can vary throughout the actual field test, as the mobile wireless communication device can move between different radio frequency environments. An accurate reproduction of the field test, as well as adaptations of the field test to new operating scenarios, can benefit from dynamically estimating the radio frequency environment using statistics in the scanned data. The play back and mapping of scanned data can be dynamically adapted based on the estimated radio frequency environment, rather than using a single fixed operating scenario.